Peter Pan
by Lubljanka007
Summary: Slam Dunk is a story, just a story. What happens when someone managed to walk into that story? This is a Sendoh's coming of age story through an unlikely encounter. This was the first fanfic that I wrote, and eventually took down because of embarrassing mistakes that I have made. This had now been edited and re-uploaded.
1. The encounter

**14:10, Friday, Kanagawa District**

It was a warm and balmy afternoon, with the mercury hovering around 27°C. Blue, cloudless sky stretched on miles ahead, punctuated by the occasional clouds and summer breeze. It was not as hot as any other usual day in July in the Kanagawa region. Not that the weather really mattered to a certain boy, who was considered unusually tall among his peer. He yawned; his lazy gaze fixed onto the distance not far away, particularly where the colorless line connected with the surface of the calm water. His shoulders, like his long eye brows, slopped downwards from the exhaustion of the previous day's endeavor.

The District Basketball Tournament had just ended, with Kainandai and Shohoku High entering the Inter-High as Kanagawa's representatives, and Ryonan trailing behind in third place.

The seniors had now retired. Their captain, Uozumi would soon be starting his training as Sushi Chef, and their vice-captain, Ikegami would leave the team to prepare for university entrance exam. Their newly appointed captain, Sendoh Akira, was not there when both if the third year students announced their leave and his captaincy.

In fact, Sendoh Akira had good reasons why he wasn't at the school gym. He was at a jetty not far from the city, fishing rod in hand. The place was always deserted, perhaps because of the lack of facilities around, there wasn't even anything so much as a toilet in the vicinity. Or perhaps it was because of the 40-or-so minutes' walk from the nearest train station. Absentmindedly, Sendoh Akira held on to the thin metal tube, waiting for even a slightest tug on the line. He could not remember how long he had been sitting there, and he couldn't care less. The fatigue of the previous games wore him on. After all, he had to carry the team and managed both offence and defense on court against the top schools in the district. He remembered how he faced Maki one-on-one as a point guard; a role entrusted to him by the choleric coach Taoka, though he now very much enjoyed playing that position. He also remembered how their Center Uozumi was forced off court by the combination of the rival's captain's cunningness and the former's stupidity. He thought about the game with Shohoku, where he was impressed how Rukawa was playing now and how far Sakuragi had improved from the newbie he knew back in the practice game when school had just started.

He yawned for the second time. A tiny tear drop formed in the corner of his eye. He shifted his large body on his seat. "It is time I get going." His voice was quiet as he smiled to himself.

Then, as he turned, for no particular reason to examine his surrounding, something caught his eyes. There was a figure, a woman, to be exact. From where he was sitting he couldn't see her face, and she was sitting about 30 meters away on the platform of the jetty. She had a light blue dress on. Her wavy brown hair fell to one side, obscuring her face from view. It appeared to him that she was looking at the water, studying the wave as it crashed lightly against the concrete construction.

'A woman? What is a lone woman doing here all by herself?' He thought to himself.

Then, Sendoh saw her removing her shoes. One by one, she placed the beige ballerina neatly next to her. Still with her face concealed, he watched in horror as she slowly extended her now bare feet into the water.

'Suicide!' was the first though that appeared in Sendoh's mind.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" He yelled, at the same time with what remaining strength he had he sprang up from his seat and dashed to her. He grabbed one of her arms and yanked her back with all his might from the direction of the water, tossing her roughly to the ground.

"Ouch!" She yelped, "What are you doing?"

"Whatever it is, it is not worth taking your own life!" He said now, his hands on his knees, panting slightly because of the mad dash.

"Who said I was going to take my own life?" She yelled back, looking back at him angrily.

He could see her face now.

She was perhaps in her early 20's, with large almond eyes that were accentuated into cat eyes with an upward flick of black liquid liner. Her skin was pale, with blushed cheeks and full, well-formed lips that were painted a shade of crimson red. Her dark, wavy hair fell softly to the side of her face. She was a very beautiful woman, if not visibly annoyed.

From the way she dressed and styled herself, she was a reminiscence of a lady from a by-gone era.

A little stunned by the unusual appearance of the woman, something Sendoh wasn't used to; he couldn't help but thought she looked like a figure from a world-war two movie. He examined the person in front of him, who was now sitting up from the ground, rubbing the sore on her arms.

When she had finally lifted herself into an upright position, she fixed an angry stare on him. Almost instantaneously, a look of shock took over her pretty face.

"You….. you are…" she gapped, pointing at him.

Sendoh starred back at her blankly, did not know how to react.

"You are Sendoh Akira!" she finally said, her voice trembling, almost like a squeal. She was now as pale as a ghost.

'Am I that famous?' he thought to himself, 'Must be because of the tournament… I have made a name for myself by matching up to Maki and scoring like a machine in the game with Shohoku…'

"Yes I am." Sendoh responded with a polite smile now on his face, accepting his now fame.

"No it can't be…. So, you are… you are real?"

Now Sendoh was the one starring back at her, dumbfounded.

"Why wouldn't I be real?" He retorted back, a little rudely.

"So…so you are the Sendoh Akira from Ryonan High School?" Sendoh saw that she was now covering her gapping mouth with both hands, before pinching herself on the left arm, to ensure that she wasn't dreaming.

"Yes that's me!" He said, smiling again, though a cloud of confusion was slowly rising in his head. He would still like to believe the woman was a little star-struck.

'Geez, I am really that popular huh?' he thought again to himself, pleased but making a successful effort of not showing it.

"Where are we? What year is this now?" She asked, looking around her, clearly in distress.

Sendoh was puzzled now. 'How could someone not know the time, date and place?' Nevertheless, he answered, "We are in Japan's Kanagawa District. Today is Friday. The date is 3rd July… but I do not know what year it is."

"This can't be real…" he heard her murmuring to herself.

"What can't be real…?" He asked, now curious.

She did not answer, but turned around and surveyed her environment.

They were on a jetty, near the sea. The wind was blowing slightly, with soft waves crashing against the concrete structure.

"I don't believe this…." He heard her saying, "This cannot be right…" She was now rubbing her temples with both her index fingers, shaking her head; her eyes squeezed tightly close.

"What can't be right?" Sendoh was now really confused. The whole situation seemed utterly bizarre to him now.

"I am…." She murmured softly, "I am…. I think I am in the story!"

"What? What story?" Unknowingly, he placed a hand on her shoulder as a gesture of support.

"The Slam Dunk Story!" She gasped, looking now square straight at him.

'The Slam Dunk Story…?' Sendoh was totally baffled and confused, "What do you mean? What do you mean _The Slam Dunk Story_?" He asked, emphasizing the last 4 words to make his point.

"The Slam Dunk Story, the one by Takehiko Inoue…." She said, pacing back and forth but not looking at him, a string of words escaped her little mouth, "It is a story about a High School student named Sakuragi Hanamichi. He tried to play basketball to impress a girl, and there is also this guy Rukawa that…."

"Wow! So you know Sakuragi and Rukawa too?" He said, sort of impressed that both the freshmen had made names for themselves too.

"Everyone does!" She raised her voice a little, stopping to look at him with a slight panic on her face, "Everyone knows Shohoku High School, Sakuragi and Rukawa and Mitsui and Akagi. Everyone knows Ryonan and Sendoh and Uozumi. Everyone knows, everyone who reads the story, knows!" She said, more akin to yelling.

"So is that bad?" Sendoh found himself asking. He was now very confused. He did not understand why she looked so visibly shaken, and what she kept mentioning about the story, and how everyone knew them.

And she did seem to know them.

"Can…" he saw the woman taking a step closer to him, "Can I…." she lowered her eyes, "Can I touch you?" She bit her lips, probably feeling a little embarrassed about her strange request.

'What's this?' Sendoh was a little taken aback by the question, Japanese girls were never so open and direct as to ask such a thing… by the way, is she Japanese? She sure looked Japanese but didn't act like one.

"Sure," he said, ' _No harm being touched by a girl, strange as she is_ …' he thought while at the same time stretching one arm out to her.

She put her hand slightly on the extended arm, and gingerly made a very light squeeze, before murmuring "So this is real, you are warm…"

' _Of course I am warm, I am a human being for God's sake._ ' he thought. "What is this all about?" Sendoh asked, tucking both hands into his jeans; unable to hold back his curiosity any further.

He watched as she sighed with an exaggerated heave. "It seems like I walked into a story." She finally said, her eyes fell to the floor.

"I don't get it." Sendoh shook his head.

"Neither do I…" she sighed again, "As strange and as bizarre as it is, it seems like I walked into the story…" She now rose her head up and looked straight at him, "I think I am now in the _Slam Dunk story_."

"You gotta explain this to me better." said Sendoh, pestering.

"I wish I could, but I don't get it either…" she said, her voice, so forceful before, was now soft and deflated, dark clouds over her face. "You see, I am from the real world. A different world from this one. A world where there is time, there is war, people get old, people die, people graduates and get jobs…"

"Well, we graduate here and get jobs too! Uozumi-sempai just did!" He said, more defensively than he had intended to. He didn't know why, but he felt he had to defend his 'world'.

Then as if something struck him, he was feeling it now. A feeling that he was beginning to understand. His face turned slowly, and the smile vanished from his handsome face.

Seeming to realize his sudden revelation, she looked at him pitifully and asked, "How long have you been 17 now?"

"Urgh…" he thought for a bit, and if he would be honest with himself, he didn't know. He felt like he had been 17 ever since he knew his own existence, "for a while now", he finally said.

The smile continued on her face, though it had evolved into something rather bitter-sweet, almost pacifying. "You see, that is the difference. You are 17 forever."

Sendoh bit his lips. That thought never bothered him before, but now it did, in a disturbing way.

She continued, "I started to read Slam Dunk when I was 13, you were 17 then, you were older than me. But now I am 22, and you are still 17…"

"You don't mean…" Sendoh found his voice shattering a little, "you don't mean that I…. I am not real?"

His hands went up to touch his chest, as if trying to ascertain his own existence.

"You are real in your world, in your story. But you are not real in the real world." She said faintly, thinking that this could very well hurt the proud young man in front of her, asking him to question his own life, his own being, his very existence.

"I don't believe you!" Sendoh said as he took a step back, getting a little defensive now.

"Then don't." She said, smiling frailly, "Then let me ask you this, do you speak English?"

"Urgh…. Well," Sendoh scratched the back of his head slightly, "I learn it in school…"

"So you think you have been speaking Japanese to me?"

"Well, what else could I be speaking to you in?"

The smile continued on her face, "That is where it gets weird you see, I don't speak Japanese." She looked back at him, "I read Kanji and all the Japanese characters like Katakana and Hiragana, but I don't speak Japanese." She thought for a bit, "OK, maybe tourist Japanese, but not to hold a conversation, not in a million year. Never."

Sendoh starred directly into those large, cat-eyes.

"I am speaking English to you, because that is my mother tongue."

Sendoh felt like his head was starting to hurt. All these were just too bizarre for him to comprehend. What did she mean when she said she was speaking English all the way to him, and that she did not understand Japanese? How were they communicating then?

She seemed to notice that he was now in a state of confusion just as she was a few minutes earlier then, smiled an understanding smile at him, "You see, I read the story in English, because I don't read Japanese. And in my mind all the conversation, what you said, what everyone else said in the story, was in English."

Sendoh's head was throbbing now.

"So I think somehow, the translation stuck. Even if you speak Japanese, I will hear it in English, and vice-versa. I speak English and to you it is Japanese."

Sendoh now felt giddy as blood seemed to drain from his brain. His feet tripped slightly.

"Are you OK?" she walked up to him, tried to grab his stumbling body. As she caught him nimbly by the arm, Sendoh noticed that she was petite, barely reaching the height of his shoulder; though curvy at the right places. (Hey, he was a teenage boy with raging hormones, after all.)

There was a decisive strength in her grab that helped him slowly to sit on the ground, crossed-legged. She followed suit, kneeling down before him, concerns written all over her face, "Are you OK?" she asked now.

"I don't get it…" Sendoh frowned, shaking his head, "I don't get what you mean, what you mean that I am in a story, that there is a real world, and all that Japanese and English thing. I just don't get it."

"It's hard, I know" She said, understandingly, "I don't understand it yet myself…."

"But how did you get here?" Sendoh asked, "Like, I mean, from the _real_ world."

' _If there was such a thing_ ', he thought.

"Well," she raised her head to the sky, feeling the warmth on her face, "I am in Japan for two weeks for work. I work for a Japanese company you see." She looked at him now, smiling, "I have the weekend off and wanted to come to Kanagawa to see the backdrop of my favorite story, Slam Dunk, which is based here."

With that she gestured to the surrounding.

Sendoh listened, looking at his conversation partner. He did not think he understand a word, and his head felt like it was going to split soon into two.

Backdrop? Slam Dunk?

 _'_ _What the hell is going on?'_

"When I took the train from Osaka, it was kind of strange." She bit her lower lip slightly, "There was this tunnel, and when we passed through it, I felt a throbbing headache coming on suddenly. I instantly felt nauseous."

She stole a look at him, seeing that he was still listening, and went on, "I thought it was motion sickness so I closed my eyes and tried to control my stomach…" She lowered her head now, "I don't remember how long I had my eyes closed; maybe 5, maybe 10 minutes… with my closed eyes I could sense bright light coming on and off, and everything shook a little more than usual. I thought it was just some railroad work. After a while we reached the Enoshima station. And when I opened my eyes again and stepped out onto the platform, everything felt utterly strange... like everything was flat and colorless, even my hands." With that she raised both her hands to show Sendoh, which he thought looked completely normal.

She continued, "Also, this place seemed…. familiar somehow. Too familiar even if I have never been to Kanagawa before. It was really weird. " She continued, "Like I have seen this place somewhere, somewhere like a dream; then I realized it looked like the background in the Slam Dunk story, and I thought Mr. Takehiko Inoue really took the background very seriously."

"So I found myself a Ryokan and checked into it, then I just walked aimlessly looking at different sites. I guess I just happened to walk here…"

"Is that why you wanted to kill yourself?" Sendoh asked, leaning back a little, "Because you walked into a _story_?"

"Kill myself?" she looked at him, question marks written across her face.

"Well," Sendoh pointed at the pair of shoes next to the jetty, "you were trying to lower yourself into the sea!"

"Oh that!" she chucked, "No, I was just wanting to see how cold the water was. It is hot you see, and I wanted to cool my feet." She looked at him now, "you thought I was going to kill myself?"

"Oh well, that was how it looked like." Sendoh shrugged.

"Anyway," she slowly lifted herself up from the ground, "Thanks for trying to save me. I won't disturb your fishing anymore." She patted sand off her dress and was ready to leave.

"How are you going to get back?" Sendoh said, raising himself from the ground too.

"I will walk." She said, smiling back at him as she turned to get her shoes.

"No, I mean, back to the _real_ world."

The word ' _real world_ ' stopped her in her track. She lowered her gaze to the ground, the whole mood around her turned gloomy, "I… I don't know. I will take the same train I guess, and hopefully I will get back somehow."

"Hey," Sendoh wanted to say something comforting, something like ' _It will be alright_ ', but he couldn't. How could he made promises that he couldn't guarantee? He didn't want to give her assurance of something that he couldn't be sure of.

Still in a bit of a daze, he turned around to walk back to his fishing rod, and immediately to his horror the fishing rod was now floating on the surface of the sea. A large fish must have tugged at it and dragged it off before breaking off the line.

"Shit!" he said as he ran towards his original sitting place.

"Oh, shit!" The woman saw it too, and ran towards the same direction behind him.

However, the rod was too far out in the sea to be retrieved without jumping into the water.

"I am sorry…." She said solemnly.

"Why are you sorry for?" He asked.

"Well, you led go of the fishing rod because you thought I was going to kill myself… so, I was the reason why your fishing rod is now in the sea."

"Well," Sendoh shrugged, "There is not much we can do now I guess."

"I will buy you a new rod." She said, lowering her head because of guilt.

"No it is OK." He said, waving his hand, smiling now.

"No I would like to." She insisted, "You tried to save my life, so that is the least I could do." She smiled back, assuring him.

"But I have practice to go to… I am the new captain of the team." Sendoh found himself shuffling his feet a little.

"I know," she said, "And your captain Uozumi will leave to train as a chef." She looked at him slyly as she winked, "Not good to be late during your first day of new captaincy."

Sendoh was really taken aback. She did know a lot about the situation of the team. Well, is it because she came from the _real_ world and read _the story_?

He felt the subsiding headache coming up again.

She could see that the young captain was still struggling with all the information. She had wanted to say, 'On your way to practice, you will bump into Rukawa asking for a one-on-one, and you guys will play 'til sun-down and you will give him a piece of advice that will lead him to beat Sannoh.' But thought better of it and held her tongue.

"I…" Sendoh said, "I will walk you back to your Ryokan."

"Not that is OK." She said waving her hand, "I will be fine."

"No, do allow me." He found himself saying, "It is not safe for a _lone_ woman like you to walk in such a secluded area." He wanted to say pretty, but held his tongue. He was a carefree person, but never a flirt. A woman like her attracted way too much attention, however unwelcome, he thought.

She looked at him, and then chuckled. "OK." _He is a gentleman, after all._

So the two walked the 40 minutes' walk slowly towards the train station, where she said her Ryokan was.

"So, when are you leaving Kanagawa?"

"Monday night, my flight leaves Monday night from Kansai Airport." ' _If I can get back to the real world, that is._ ' She thought to herself, but said nothing.

"Sorry, I did not ask your name." Sendoh said.

"Merilyn" she answered. "Call me Merilyn"

"Me—ri-rin?" Sendoh found himself struggling with the name. Japanese language does not have the sound of "L", hence the "lyn" was difficult for him to pronounce.

"It's OK, you can call me Meririn if it is easier for you." her eyes formed into inverted crescents, "None of my Japanese colleagues could pronounce my name anyway."

"OK thanks. Meririn that is."

After 40 minutes or so they reached the front of her Ryokan.

"Arigato-gozaimasu" she said, this time in Japanese, "for walking me back."

"Ah, it is nothing." said the young captain nonchalantly. He had wanted to ask all the information about the real world and the story, but didn't think it was the right time and place that moment.

"So, fishing rod tomorrow?" She peered at him, cheerfully.

"OK, but only if you insist."

"I insist. Let's meet back here at 10 tomorrow? Or when do you finish practice?"

"10 is fine, practice is in the afternoon."

"OK, see you then." She waved and walked into her Ryokan, and bowed at her receptionist slightly as she greeted her "Konbawa!"

Sendoh smiled. He watched as she disappeared behind the stairs, before turning around and walked back to the station to catch a train to his school, still pondering about the whole thing that happened today.

The whole things seemed utterly unreal and weird to him. He decided that a round of basketball and some sleep would help him understand more the next day. Besides, he was getting his fishing rod replaced.

As he exited the Ryonan High School station and was on his way to the basketball gym, his mind still full of thoughts, a figure standing there started him and jerked him out of his reverie.

It was Rukawa Kaede.

"Hey" He smiled and greeted, a little surprised to find the Rookie there.

"Hey," said the freshman straight-forwardly without any expression on his face, "play one-on-one with me."

Sendoh was a little surprised by the request, which sounded more like an order. He complied nonetheless.

They went to a basketball court not far from the school played 'til dusk.


	2. Fishing Rod

**10:22 a.m., Saturday, Kanagawa District, near train station of Enoshima**

Sendoh arrived at the Ryokan he had left Merilyn the day before, still feeling a little unsure if he should really accept the offer of a new fishing rod from her. He scratched his cheek absentmindedly, thinking that it was a mosquito bite.

Then he saw her, sitting there on a bench in the front garden of the Ryokan, in a navy-colored dress. Her wavy hair parted to the side, the end of it caressed her collar bones. Still with those beautiful cat-eyed, red lips, she still looked like a figure from a word-war II movie.

She was observing a sparrow as it sat on the sand, wiggling in the pit and fluffing its feather for a sand-bath.

"Ah, good morning!" he said, a little embarrassed by his tardiness.

"Ohayo-gozaimasu!" she chirped, merrily as she stood up. "Well, show the way then," she gesturing to him to the gate, "You know the fishing stores here better than I do."

"Are you sure about this?" He asked as they walked side by side out of the gate of the Ryokan, him holding the gate open for her. Inside of him he wanted to say, a fishing rod is expensive.

"Dead sure." She nodded, without looking at him.

And with that they both walked out onto the street towards the train station. They chatted about nothing in particular. He could see that she was still deep in thoughts about the whole situation, with the story, the real world; though she tried to appear cheerful.

The train they needed to take just arrived at the station when they got there.

"So did you meet Rukawa yesterday?" she asked suddenly as they sat themselves opposite each other. As it was no longer rush hour, there were still empty seats on the carriage.

"Huh?" Sendoh was surprised, "How did you know?"

"It is in the story."

"Ah," ' _there she goes again_ ', he thought, ' _with all this story and stuff.'_ For a moment he thought maybe she was a bit delusional, "Yes, he wanted to play one-on-one with me."

"I know."

The train went through a tunnel as everything around them turned dark.

"He wanted to ask if there are stronger players than me in the National."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him there was a guy name Kitasawa that I could not beat in middle school."

"His name is Sawakita," she said while looking out of the window, the gray cityscape swept into view as the train exited the tunnel, "Eiji Sawakita."

He felt the blood drained again from his brain.

"Oh really?" he scratched his face absentmindedly, a little embarrassed that she knew more about High School basketball players in Japan than he did.

"Yes, he played basketball with his dad since young, and he will be leaving for America soon, after the Inter-High."

"That is in the story too?"

She smiled faintly now, "Yes."

Maybe not as delusional as he had hoped.

"He wants to go too."

"Who?"

"Rukawa."

"Go where?"

"America."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but Anzai-sensei refused." She said now, her gaze was still focusing on something out of the carriage, "he said he is still not as good as you. And he should become Japan number one High School Player first."

"Is that why he came to challenge me?"

"Yeah I guess so, who knows." Merilyn shrugged. Rukawa's motivation to challenge him was never very explicitly exposed in the story.

She turned her gaze now to him, "So what do you think about him?"

"Who? Rukawa?"

Silent nod.

"Well, he is definitely a very good player, explosive power, good techniques, and improving fast."

"I mean as a person." Her eyes had the curious intensity that he had not seen before.

"Well," he pondered a little, "if he wasn't so fixed on beating me, I guess we could be friends."

"And Sakuragi?"

Sendoh looked at his travel companion, pondering.

"He definitely has talents."

"And he needs to practice like crazy." She said, with a cheeky wink.

At this, he led out a soft laugh, feeling a little deflated that she seemed to know everything about him, his conversation, his opponent, "That's right."

Then they rode in silent until the desired station, each with an inexplicable smile on their face.

In the fishing store, Sendoh managed to pick up the same fishing rod that he had lost the day before. Merilyn took out her credit card to pay.

"Are you…. really sure about this?" Sendoh stuttered.

"Yes I am!" she nodded without even glancing at him, and handed her credit card over.

The store owner peered at Sendoh, mischief in his eyes as he pondered the relationship between the two.

They definitely did not look like siblings.

Sendoh made sure to look innocent the whole time.

As they left the store, rod in hand, he heard her say "I wonder if the money I use now will be deducted from my bank account in the real world." She smiled sheepishly, "if not, I should spend more!"

Sendoh could only smile bitterly to himself. Every time she talked about the _real world_ , a world he never knew, his heart sank. It was like as if his world didn't exist, his life, his surrounding, everything he ever knew, did not exist; never had.

He had been living in a fictional cocoon his entire life. For all she knew, he wasn't even real.

The time was now 11:45 a.m.

"Hey,"

A hand on his arm shook Sendoh out from his reverie.

He looked down to see two large cat-eyes looking back at him.

"Wanna eat ramen?"

"Erhhh…" he found himself stuttering, his feet shuffling.

"No worries, my treat." She said, waving her hand dismissively as her eyes narrowed through a smile, "you are a student, so it's normal you have limited pocket money."

He felt his ears going a little red. She was right on that.

"So where is the best ramen store around here?"

Sendoh had no choice but to point to one direction, "There." and led the way. He thought that this woman was so confident, direct and brute, that she was not like any Japanese girls he had met.

Before long they arrived at the ramen store. After being seated at the counter, she ordered Tonkotsu ramen, Gyoza, and Tori-Kaarage.

He was surprised for the amount of food ordered by such a tiny person.

When the steaming bowls of noodles arrived, Sendoh, being Japanese, did as any Japanese would.

He cowered over the bowl of noodles and started slurping loudly, until he noticed that she was staring at him.

Feeling a little embarrassed, he wiped some soup off his mouth, "What?"

"How do you do that?" she asked, genuinely interested.

"Do what?"

"Slurp like that."

"Urgh… " Sendoh found his ears going a little red, "Urgh, I don't know. Just put the noodles in your mouth and suck I guess?"

Two large curious eyes stared back at him, her lips widened into a smile, "That's all?"

"That's all."

"Alright, I will try." She said, while hovering her head over the bowl.

However, no matter how she tried, she failed miserable. At the end she resorted to curling the noodles around her chopsticks to eat, alternating between the ramen and the two of the side dishes.

He couldn't help but gawked. He never saw a woman ate that much before.

"So when does practice start?" she asked while lifting the bowl to her lips to drink the soup from it.

"Urgh, at one."

"Is it far from here?"

"No, just a few stations."

"Can I come to watch?"

"Urgh….."

"Worry about what your team mates will say if you show up with a woman?"

He did not answer for a few seconds. ' _This woman is just too straight forward_.' He thought, and he wasn't use to it. He was more use to… well, squealing and blushing fan girls really.

"Or worry about what your fan girls will think that you show up with an _older_ woman?"

"No, not that, I don't care about that."

"Then," she patted him on the back, "I am coming with you to practice. I want to see Uozumi in real life, to see if he is really that big."

Sendoh looked at her, almost speechless. He had thought to say Uozumi had retired and will not be at practice today, but no words came out of his half-opened mouth.

"I never thought Japanese High Schooler would be that big," she said absentmindedly, "Well, not where I am from anyway."

Sendoh understood that when she meant where she was from, she meant the real world.

"Don't worry, just say I am your cousin or something." She seemed to have seen through his thoughts.

"I am not worried about that."

Then nothing further was spoken about Merilyn going with him to see the Ryonan team practice.

It was 1:35 p.m. when they finally arrived at the basketball gym.

The first thing that hit Sendoh was Coach Taoka's fury.

"Sendoh! What are you doing!? You are late again!" yelled a fuming Coach Taoka, waving his fist in the air.

"Don't you know that you are the captain now? You gotta be more punctual! Everyone is waiting for you! And where the hell were you yesterday!?"

"I am sorry, coach!" Sendoh flashed his charming smile, hoping to evade any potential scolding, "I was… was caught up in something…"

"Like what?"

"Like me!" then popped out a head from behind the tall frame of the teenager.

She was so pretty that Coach Taoka was stunned for a second, and then blushed slightly.

"He lost his fishing rod while trying to save me from falling into the water, so I got him a new one as a token of thanks."

Sendoh gapped, "Don't say that….." but it was too late.

"WHAAAT?" Coach Taoka fumed again, screaming now on the top of his lungs, "You **WENT** fishing!? On the day of your new Captaincy you actually WENT fishing!? What are you thinking Sendoh!? You big DUMMY!"

"Take it easy Taoka-san," chipped in Merilyn as she took a step forward, wedging herself between the coach and the new captain, "he took a lot of toll during the District Tournament. He needs a break too."

With that Coach Taoka went quiet, starring at the pretty woman in front of him, still trembling with anger.

"He had to lead the team in Uozumi's absence, managing both offence and defense on court for 2 days in a roll. Even as a genius, that is just too much." said Merilyn in a matter-of-fact kind of tone, "He is still just a 17 years old kid you know."

Sendoh blushed a little; he was used to having his backside covered by his teammates, but never by a stranger. Then he felt someone budging him with an elbow behind him.

It was Koshino, the guard of the Ryonan who was perpetually angry.

"Who is this woman you brought?" Koshino asked in a whisper into his ear, though not less intimidating, "What is with you? Yesterday it was Rukawa who came looking for you, and now you brought a woman to our practice?"

From the corner of his eyes he could see Fukuda looking at him from the corner of the court, with an expression he couldn't read.

"Erh, she… she is my cousin…" Sendoh stuttered, thinking about the explanation Merilyn gave him earlier.

"I never knew you had a cousin…"

"Yeah, neither did I…" Sendoh was struggling to explain further, "she… she just came from oversea yesterday…"

"Hi,"

Now Koshino noticed a hand stuck out to him to shake, "I am Merilyn Sendoh, Sendoh's distant cousin. I arrived from Australia yesterday."

Deep down inside she kicked herself. She was not sure if "Australia" existed in the Slam Dunk world. Damn, I should have said America, she thought to herself.

Sendoh was surprised that she adopted his last name so readily for a lie.

"Ah hi…." Koshino hesistated a little by the openness of the woman, but took the hand nonetheless, "Nice meeting you."

' _Such a straight forward, no nonsense kind of woman, which is almost non-existence in Japanese society._ ' He thought to himself.

"So, do ignore my presence, I just want to watch you guys practice." Merilyn said while gesturing to one of the side bench, "Shall I just sit over there?"

On the bench was a rather stunned looking Aida Hikoichi, who was frantically jotting down notes on his dog-eared book.

"Sure, sure," said Hikoichi, "please do." and moved himself to create a free space for her.

With that Merilyn strode to the bench and sat down.

In his notebook Hikoichi Aida wrote: "Sendoh-san has a cousin from Australia! Must check out!" He also made a mental note to inform his sister, Aida Yayoi.

Sendoh felt his team mates eyeing him suspiciously, and he could spot a few disappointed faces among his fan girls.

' _Oh well, what's done is done…_ '

He shrugged and started the warm-up laps, followed by practice drill.

"Hey, is she really your cousin?" Fukuda asked as the power forward jogged passed him.

"Urgh…, yes she is." What else was there to say?

"She doesn't seem very Japanese."

"Well, she grew up in Australia, like she said."

Fukuda said no more as they resumed practice


	3. Practice and Shohoku

**3:57 p.m. Saturday, Ryonan High School**

"OK, last drill! Lay-ups!" Sendoh yelled out to his team.

With that everyone got in line, and each person went to practice lay-ups in a line formation.

At 4:11 p.m. they were done. All of the team was panting from the exhaustion, droplets of sweat fell to the floor. Some of the weaker members went throwing up outside the gym.

While the rest of the team stood around, drank from their bottles and wiping sweat off their face, Sendoh walked over to his 'cousin', Merilyn.

"So, what have you been doing?" he asked as he put a slice on lemon between his lips.

"I took some pictures." She smiled back, and lifted her hand to show him a rectangular device, with a bright screen showing some of their pictures during practice.

"What is that, a camera?"

"A smart phone."

"Smart phone?"

"Yes, it is like a phone, a computer, a music player, and a camera all in one." She said looking at him curiously, "Don't you have that here?"

"Urgh…. No, I don't think so." was all Sendoh could muster, shaking his head.

"Ah right, of course." Said Merilyn understandingly, "Slam Dunk was created in 1990 to 1996, Smart Phone didn't exist then."

Sendoh could not quite understand that.

She looked at his puzzled face, and smiled, "Don't worry about it."

By 4:35 p.m. everyone was out of the gym and on their way home.

"Hey," said Merilyn 'Sendoh'.

Sendoh looked at her.

"Bring me to Shohoku's gym."

The request sounded more like an order. Sendoh stared at her wordlessly.

"I want to take pictures of the Shohoku team too." She smiled. "It is not far from here, right?"

Sendoh smiled in a lopsided way, and muttered "Right." He had no choice but to comply again.

"They are the main team in the story, anyway… so I couldn't miss the opportunity to take their pictures…." Merilyn was mumbling as they were on their way. Sendoh chose to ignore all the story bit and just thought she was a weird person, a weird cousin.

It was close to five thirty when they arrived at Shohoku High School.

The second winning team was practicing, with the first year playing against the second and third year.

Sakuragi had shaved his head. Rukawa was silent and with an intense stare. To become Japan's number one High Schooler was now his only goal.

Then both Ayako and Haruko noticed the lanky figure at the door.

"Sendoh-san!" Haruko gasped.

"Sendoh?" Sakuragi and Mitsui turned their heads and looked at the door.

"Hey guys!" waved Sendoh, smiling though feeling a little uneasy. He thought they might think he was a spy coming to spy on them.

'Why is he here?' thought Rukawa as he turned his eyes to the door as well. He imagined that after yesterday Sendoh wanted to challenge him to yet another one-on-one, for revenge; and he would gladly honour that. Rukawa clenched his fist tightly, was about to walk towards his rival when he realized that the visitor was not alone.

"Hey guys!" said a cheerful voice as a petite figure stepping out behind him.

The whole gym seemed to have gone silent.

"Who is she?" Miyagi whispered to Ayako.

Rukawa stopped in his track.

The lady was walking towards them now.

"Ah, you must be Akagi!" she looked at the stunned captain of Shohoku, "You are really tall!" she said as she stood next to the captain, reaching him only about his chest.

"Y… yes, and you are….?"

"Merilyn Sendoh." She stuck out her hand again, "I am Akira's cousin. I came from Australia yesterday, and know a lot about you guys from Akira."

Akagi Takenori was stunned from speaking; he looked at the spiky-hair ace, who look innocently helpless among the Shohoku's players.

"Akira said you, Mr. Akagi, is the best center in the region. I am so very impressed!"

Sendoh was a little aghast how the strange woman could just lie through her teeth like that, though he couldn't really refute everything she said. She said it with such convincing power that Sendoh almost wanted to believe that he always had a cousin living abroad in Australia, that he had always told her everything about his life.

Then she turned towards Sakuragi, "Wow! Your hair is really flaming red!"

Sakuragi, not being used to dealings with the opposite sex, did not know how to react. So he just stood there dumbfounded when Merilyn walked up to him, "May I touch?"

He nodded mutely, and lowered his heard for the stranger to touch.

"Oh, nice and soft…!" she was grinning when she said this, as she ran her fingers liberally over the red crown of Sakuragi. Oblivious to the dropping jaws of just about everyone except Rukawa.

Sakuragi's face was beet red.

Haruko, for reasons unknown to her, felt a little deflated seeing her friend, who was normally feared, was receiving so much attention from an attractive woman.

"Could I…" she then went on to rumbling in her bag before taking out a pink, flat rectangular device, "So, could I take a picture with you guys?"

Akagi frowned at the request. He never liked disruptions at practices. But then again, Sendoh was a player that he respected, and he believed now that the respect was mutual between himself and the Ryonan Ace. Otherwise why would the latter bother talking about him to a cousin living thousands of miles away?

"Akira said you guys are one of the best teams in Kanagawa, only losing to the Champion Kainandai by one point. So I can't let this opportunity pass when I am here, right?" Her persuasive power and the ability to hit the right spot made everyone gathered and let her take a picture with them.

Sendoh was feeling rather hapless that this strange woman who claimed that she came from a different world was really able to recount just about anything that happened in the last few months, down to the last minute details.

"OK, I will be going!" she said after checking the pictures on her device. "Thanks for the picture! And, good luck at the national!" she waved as she turned around to leave, with Sendoh trailing swiftly behind. Though she already knew they would only play 3 games.

"Oh, hang on." She said mid-stride as she turned to look at the team manager, "Ayako-san, right? The beautiful Ayako-san?"

Merilyn sure knew how to break Ayako's guard down. Of course, she learnt it from the book Slam Dunk itself.

After hearing her compliment Ayako lowered her guard immediately, "Yes, I am Ayako. No I am not that beautiful…. Hehehe…" She was giggling now, waving her hands. Receiving compliment from a beautiful woman was a rare treat.

Merilyn beamed in response before walking up to the manageress and put her arms around the latter's shoulder. She then turned the younger woman around with a swing of the ball of her foot, their back now facing the Shohoku team, "Hey, Ayako-san. Miyagi really likes you, and I think you two would look cute together! Don't keep him waiting too long."

Ayako looked at the older of the two of them, blushing as her eyes widened. ' _How'd she know? Did she know it from Sendoh too?_ '

Merilyn only winked mischievously at her.

' _Does the whole Ryonan know?_ ' Ayako turned to look at Sendoh in shock, but the latter was looking oblivious and innocent back at her, completed with an easy smile on his face.

Before Ayako could react, Merilyn was now walking towards Haruko, and whispered something to her ears too.

Haruko's face then turned the same as Sakuragi's – beet-red for all to see. She looked at Sakuragi for a moment in disbelieve, and shifted her gaze to Rukawa, before turning around and ran out of the gym.

"Haruko-chan!" shouted Sakuragi. He had wanted give chase, but received a knock promptly on his head to concentrate on the game.

Merilyn only grinned merrily while putting both her hands together, "OK, I have done what I need to do, I will get going now. Bye guys!"

She then waved and walked out of the gym. Sendoh followed her quickly.

Everyone in Shohoku was rather confused.

"She is… Sendoh's cousin?" Mitsui frowned.

"A weird lady." Sighed Akagi.

"She can't be Japanese… no one acts like that here…" Kogure said.

When they were outside the gym, it was now close to 6 p.m.

The sun was setting, leaving an orange streak against the violet hue in the sky. The air had cooled a little. Merilyn took her phone out to snap a picture of the impressive evening sky.

"What did you do?" Sendoh asked, "What did you tell the two ladies that made them so red?"

"Well, let's just say I try to point them to the right direction in love." Merilyn grinned happily, her eyes narrowed into two slits.

Sendoh looked baffled; he did not understand what she meant. Not receiving any further explanation, he decided to let the matter rest.

"Hey, what about dinner?" She turned and looked at him now, hopeful face beaming.

Sendoh looked back at her, her pale face was reflecting the evening sun and glowed almost an orange tint.

She seemed to read his thoughts, "Don't worry, I am not chasing after you." She waited for a second for his reaction, received none, and continued, "Just thought maybe you know a good restaurant around."

Sendoh sighed in defeat, eating definitely seemed to be her interest. "So what do you want to eat?"

"Yakiniku would be nice. Or do you need to go home to have dinner with your parents?"

"No… I live alone." Sendoh said, "My parents live up in Tokyo, I came here to attend high school all by myself".

"OK then, that's sorted." said Merilyn as she put her phone back into the bag, "So which store serves the best Yakiniku?"

"But…" Sendoh's voice was low, "Yakiniku is quite expensive." Deep down inside he liked the idea. Yakiniku is not something a high-school student could easily afford.

"My treat, don't worry."

"Is it really OK?"

A nod was all there was.

When they finally settled at the Yakiniku store, Sendoh couldn't help but ask, "Why are you like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like," Sendoh considered the next thing he wanted to say, "so, un-lady like…"

He saw the almond cat-eyes looking back at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she played with the chopsticks on the table.

"You are…" he tried not to sound offensive, "straight forward, un-shy, full of confident…and almost manly…" he paused, choosing his words carefully, "Like a tomboy."

"How should I be like then?"

"You don't giggle, you don't cover your mouth when you laugh, you eat like a man…"

"I drink like one too."

Sendoh was now a little taken aback.

"Look," she turned her head to look at him, her gaze fixated on his, "I am not from here, and by here I don't mean Japan. I mean, _here_. I am from the real world." She paused a little, and continued, "If you want to be independent and successful in the real world, you gotta hold your own."

Sendoh looked at her in silence, a little shocked, though, and thought she had a point.

"People do not respect you if you giggle like a school girl."

"So you are successful."

"I am doing OK." She said while browsing the menu, everything was in Japanese, and she was trying her limited knowledge of Katagana on it.

"To… ri…, geee-yu… ya…sa…ee…."

"So what do you do?"

"I work in a drug company." Her eyes continued scrutinizing the menu, "I am a Biochemist."

"What?"

"Drug company." She said, while placing down the menu card and gestured to him, "You order for both of us. I eat everything, and a beer please."

When the beer arrived and she started sipping it, directly from the bottle. Sendoh was drinking his Pocari Sweat. At 17, he was still under-aged to drink in public, though he did sometimes when he was hanging out with the boys.

When their food arrived for the grill they chatted about nothing in particular.

He talked about his basketball practice, about being a captain, about fishing, and the kind of fish there are in the Japan's water, what kind of bait was suitable.

She listened, nodding in acknowledgement while her hands kept busy turning the meat.

"Don't you worry?" He asked, suddenly.

"About what?" she asked, sipping beer, leaving red lipstick stain on the edge of the can.

"About…." He swallowed a little harder, not sure of bring up the subject; "about being able to go back to…." he paused, "to where you came from?"

She was now silent, her face darkened.

Sendoh felt a little guilty now, she was still cheerful a few seconds ago.

"Ah, I am sorry for bringing it up." He said, waving his hand to indicate it was not important, "forget it."

"I think about it all the time you know?" She lowered her gaze, "Since yesterday, I was wondering, what will I do if I am…." She paused too, worrying about hurting the boy, "what if I am stuck here, in the story."

Sendoh's brows furrowed. Story? Yes, story. _To her you aren't real, none of this is real. You are part of a story._ _A story she walked into_.

"Maybe it isn't so bad…" she said now, picking up a piece of grilled Mackerel and stuck it into her mouth.

Sendoh looked at her, puzzled and a little deflated.

"Maybe it isn't so bad," she repeated, now looking at him, "then I won't grow old, right? I will be forever 22! Like Peter Pan!" a smile returned to her face, though a little strained, "You know Peter Pan?"

Sendoh knew Peter-Pan alright. The boy who fought Captain Cook in children's story book; the one who never grew old in the Neverland.

It struck him. He realized this now. He was Peter Pan.

He was Peter Pan in Neverland.

Always 17.

"You know," she continued, "I used to have a crush on you."

Sendoh choked on his piece of chicken.

"Urgh…." He coughed, "I wasn't expecting that."

She didn't seem too bothered by confessing, "Well, I was a teenager then." She looked at him straight on again, "I thought if I would ever have a boyfriend, he would have to be like you."

Sendoh felt himself blushing. This woman was too honest.

"But then I had one, he sort of looked like you, and he was a dumb asshole."

 _OK, brutally honest alright_. He thought to himself.

She chuckled, and apologized, "Sorry, I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's nothing."

"Good."

"What about now?"

"What about now?" she asked, blinking.

"Do you still have a crush on me?"

It appeared that she wasn't expecting such question. She was staring at him now, and seemed to be in thought for a while.

He had to try to maintain the stare without looking away, something Japanese are not used to doing.

"You are cute alright," she said, turning to her beer, "and have a nice personality. But you are still 17, too young for me." Then it seemed something struck her, and her voice was low, "Even if I stayed in the story…."

Sendoh felt his ears burning.

"Even if I can't get out of here, I will be 22, and you will always be 17…" she gazed at nothing in particular in front of her.

With that they continued eating.

When they finished, she paid and they exited the restaurant. The atmosphere had been a little strained until now.

"I will take you back to your Ryokan." said Sendoh.

"I know my way back." replied Merilyn, looking at the tall young man squarely.

"No," Sendoh was adamant, "You bought me lunch and dinner, this is the least I could do."

"And a fishing rod."

"And a fishing rod." His smile was warm and genuine.

"OK then, let's go."

It was now almost 8 p.m. at night.

They arrived at the Ryokan around quarter to 9.

"Want to come in for a drink?"

Sendoh was again stunned. There were some thoughts in his mind (admittedly a little naughty), but he suppressed them quite successfully.

"Don't worry," she started laughing looking at the blushing boy, "I have no ill intention. I bought some drinks yesterday, so thought maybe you wanted to have some."

"Urgh, I…." Sendoh thought for a second, and then said, "OK."

"I am your cousin, remember?" she winked.

"Ah yes, cousin." and he followed her into the Ryokan. He saw her explaining something to the middle-age man at the reception, who peered at Sendoh with due suspicion.

While in the room, Merilyn placed two cans of beers on the low table while switching on the air conditioner.

"Hope I am not enticing under-age boys to drink" she said, half laughing.

"Nah, I drink sometimes, with the boys."

She smiled, and sat down opposite him.

"So, does the story end?" he asked, hugging one knee with his long arms.

"Yes it does." She said, resting both her elbows on the table, her chin on the back on her crisscrossed hand, now looking at him.

"So, what happened at the end?"

"You really want to know?"

"Why not?" his handsome face looked baffled.

"I do not know…" she looked down, and continued, "If you could know how you were doing to die, would you still like to know?"

"Do I die at the end?" his felt like his heart stopped beating.

"No, it was just a joke." She laughed.

Sendoh led out weak smile, he had to admit that this woman was quite a handful, "So tell me."

"It is fine. Everyone will be fine, until the end. Everything goes on, nobody dies." though she wasn't sure. If the story did not continue after Chapter #276, did the characters cease to exist afterwards?

"OK…." He thought for a while, "so, is this like, like… like I live in a movie?"

"I don't know," she said, "But if you have never lived differently, what is the difference?"

"What is the real world like?"

She looked at him, was for a second not knowing what to say. Eventually, she looked at her beer, her hands now hugs both her knees, "It is a much colder and crueler place."

"So, the story world is better?" he asked, sipping his beer.

"Yes, I would say so. It is more innocent I guess?"

There was a pause, before she finally said, "At least in a selective kind of way."

Sendoh wasn't quite sure if he understood the meaning of that, "Tell me about the real world, the world you came from."

She looked up at him, "Are you sure you want to know?"

The young man was adamant, now resting his long arms on both his bent knees.

She starred at him, knowing that he wasn't going to faze. So she started, she told him about the world events, about 9-11, the Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, about wars, rape, poverty, famine, forced-marriage, outbreaks, pandemics, about corrupt government, financial crisis, political prosecution, racism, apartheid, human trafficking, global warming, deforestations, river being polluted, over-populations, animals going extinct.

She spoke intelligently, with such deep philosophy and understanding, coupled with the intense conviction that belied her twenty-two years of age and experience. By the time she finished, it was close to midnight.

"Hunger for power, never satiating greed for money, selfishness…will bring humanity to its ruin." She said at last while starring at nothing in particular.

Sendoh listened with such concentration, though he did not understand all of it.

"You better get going." She said, looking at the clock, visibly tired.

"Ah right," Sendoh said, pushing himself up from the Tatami floor. He was now tired too.

"Want to hang-out tomorrow?"

Sendoh looked at her.

"It is my last day tomorrow, _here_."

"Actually I want to ask…." He shuffled his feet.

She stared at him now, pensive look on her pretty face.

"Why are you still so cheerful?" he thought about it for a moment, and continued, "when you…. When you do not even now if you could go back to there, to the _real world_?"

Merilyn thought for a while, maybe 5 seconds, maybe more.

"Because of you." She finally said, without hesitation.

He blushed again, avoiding her eyes.

"You make this place, here…" she gestured with one index finger pointing to the floor, "seems…. _liveable_ and _real_ somehow." She uttered, finally, looking down.

Sendoh smiled, and nodded. He started to like this 'cousin' of his, and he understood what she meant by ' _here_ '. But liveable and real? Did she really mean it?

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, the hand that then proceed to drag his 190cm frame lower, and a peck landed on his cheek, "Good night" she said, "and travel safe home."

He smiled and took his leave, taking in the comfort that his presence was making her feel safe.


	4. Basketball and Fish

**07:13 a.m., Sunday, Kanagawa District**

Merilyn shifted in her Futon bed, the ray of sun shone brightly from the window; she was rubbing her eyes when she heard a faint knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me," came a familiar voice of the last one and a half day, "Sendoh Akira."

A little perplexed, ' _When is this guy ever early?_ ' she got up from her bed, wavy locks of hair dangling on the side of her face, and without further ado opened the door.

There stood the handsome young man, smiling like the first ray of sunshine in the morning, and a fishing rod in hand. He was wearing a blue polo-shirt, and a pair of denim short. When he saw her, he felt a surge of blood going to his face.

She was still in her sleeping yukata, the one that Ryokans usually provided to their guests, admittedly a little untidied from the sleeping. His eyes betrayed him and stole a peek at her cleavage.

No cat-eyed, no red lips. She appeared paler than usual, and her plain face made her looked younger than 20.

"You…" he muttered, "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb your sleep."

"It's OK," she replied "come in." she yawned while moving herself to the side to let him into her room.

He stood there like a statue, then a thought dawned on her.

"I… I am sorry," she then realized it, her face reddened a little when she turned quickly around, "I don't mean to embarrass you…." Her hands went ruffling to tidy up her yukata.

Sendoh walked into the room, looking the opposite direction and placed a sport bag on the tatami floor.

"I was wondering if you wanted to join me for fishing today." He lifted up the long metal rod, "with the new rod." and flashed a disarming smile that no one could refuse.

She looked at him, and her face softened into a chuckle, "Sure, let me just get ready."

Then as he sat there, he watched her discreetly when she was getting dressed. With her back facing him, she put on her bra before pulling a navy striped t-shirt over her head and a pair of faded denim shorts.

After that she went to the dressing table, took out what looked like a tiny black pen and drew on her usual cat eyes. Then she took out a metal tube and was in the process of putting on her red lips.

"I quite like it without the red lips too…." He found himself muttering softly.

"What?" his words stopped her in her track before she turned her head around and looked at him.

"I…" he said, he felt his cheek getting hot, "I thought you look nice without the red lips too." He swallowed a little harder, "you look… younger."

She smiled, "I know." and with a quick swift swiped her full lips a bright, crimson red.

Sendoh felt a little disappointed.

"Red lips…. known as a symbol of seduction." Merilyn said while pressing her lips together, her hand tugging the lipstick into her short's pocket, "but also a signal of warning." She looked at him, "I wear it as a shield, a deterrent."

Sendoh couldn't quite understand it.

"Men fear women who are beautiful and confident." She said with a faint smile, examining her reflection in the mirror and brushing her hair with her fingers, "it makes them feel insecure"

"I don't feel insecure with you." Replied Sendoh almost defensively, though he didn't understand why or what he was even saying.

"Good, that means you are a confident young man."

Sendoh managed a weak smile.

"Beside," she said, turning to him, her smiling eyes now into two slits, "If I looked younger, people might think we were a couple."

Her words stung a little, not that he would want to admit it. "Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

"What?"

"Looking like... you know," he stuttered, "a... couple..." the last word was as light as a whisper, almost inaudible among the hum of the air conditioner.

"No, but I am older," she pulled out a towel from the closet, "don't want you to lose fan girls." She smiled cheekily with a wink as she tossed the towel his direction. He caught it deftly and could only stare back at her.

Then they gathered their stuff, fishing rod, sun-screen, towel, plastic bucket, bait, hooks and sinkers, and left the Ryokan together.

The old man was eyeing them suspiciously now. They both chuckled as they left the Ryokan's gate.

This time Sendoh picked a fishing spot slightly out of town. It was quieter, in possess of a sandy beach, with a wooden jetty extending some 250 meter into the sea. The scenery was prettier, a distant island jutting out from the middle of the sea. He also heard that there are more fishes in this water.

Since it was early, it was still void of people.

The day, though still early, was already showing sign of being on the extreme end of summer. The sea gulls were gliding through the hot and humid air, scanning the surface of the water for potential prey. Their squeaks could be heard among the sound of the waves.

They picked a spot to fish. A spot where Sendoh thought was sufficiently deep for bigger fishes.

Once seated, he then started the process of setting up the fishing rod, tying a hook to the end of the line, and bait to the hook. He adjusted the sinker, then lowered the line into the clear blue water.

Merilyn lied on a towel next to him; sipping the iced coffee that she had picked up on the way there and looking at the water, examining the tiny fishes that were swimming close to the jetty to avoid predation.

She stuck a finger into the water, where the fishes examined it with reserved interest.

Without realizing it, Sendoh was starting to enjoy her company. She talked, but wasn't the chatty type; and unlike most of the fan girls he knew who almost always reduced to ceaseless giggle ceaselessly giggling in front of him, the words coming out of her mouth seemed intelligent, or, at least had been processed through a certain thought process.

"How does it feel like, to be an Ace?" she asked, lifting her finger from the water to taste the salty water on her tongue.

"Huh?" Sendoh turned to look at her.

"I mean," she looked at him now, shielding the sun with the back of her hand, "It is a heavy burden. People depends on you, depends on you for instruction, for leadership, on what to do. You have to carry the team, even if you are trailing, having to win… everyone thinks, as long as Sendoh Akira is there, everything will be fine. He will bring Ryonan to victory. That is a lot of responsibility for a young boy like you."

He smiled softly, looking at the glistering sun reflecting off the surface of the water, "Well, with great ability comes great responsibility, I guess. Everyone pins their hope on me, and I can't just disappoint them."

"You like to win because you don't want to disappoint people?"

Sendoh thought it was a strange question.

"I win because I like winning. Winning is fun." He replied without looking at her.

Merilyn was silent now.

"More fun than losing anyway." He thought he had to make it clear.

"But you can't win all the time in life."

"I know, but at least I can win in ball games."

"Is that why you like fishing?" she looked at the direction he was looking, "To get away from it all once in a while? To do something without thinking about winning or losing?"

"Yeah I guess so." He said, "The tranquility and the calmness, something you need on the court when facing an opponent, but you certainly don't get it there."

Then for 5 minutes or so none of them said a word.

"In fact, there is losing in fishing too. You lose when you don't catch a fish, and you win when you do." He said thoughtfully, his face blank.

"But I guess the defeat is less obvious." She countered, turning her attention back to the fishes; which he only nodded in response.

"But if the fish loses, she dies..." she muttered lowly.

But Sendoh never head it. It was exactly that moment that he felt a tug on the line, his heart almost fell out of his chest. "I think we got something!" He declared loudly as he started to draw it in. The tugging got a little stronger, and he drew a little harder.

"I think this is a huge fish!" he exclaimed excitedly, "bring the bucket!"

Merilyn got up on her feet, and took the bucket next to her to fill it with sea-water before walking up to him, with bounce in her steps.

Finally the struggle ended, with man emerged as the winner.

The fish was the size of a basketball shoes alright. Sendoh praised himself inwardly for it.

"Hi fish." Said Merilyn as she stroke the distressed fish, too big for the plastic pail. It twisted uncomfortable in the bucket, splashing water everywhere.

"Hey," said Sendoh excitedly as he removed the hook carefully from the fish's gapping mouth, "we should bring it to Uozumi-sempai! He will make it into nice sushi for us!"

Merilyn agreed, though not without uttering a soft "Poor fish", chuckling.

Then they packed up their stuff, with the fish in the bucket, and were on their way to Uozumi's father's restaurant.

It was close to 10:30 a.m. now and the beach was starting to fill up.

When they arrived at the Sushi Bar belonging to Uozumi's father, the door was still closed and lights were out.

Sendoh rang on the door bell.

When a familiar voice answered, Sendoh was heard saying, "Hey, Uozumi-sempai! Sendoh here!"

In no time at all, the rice paper door slid open, a towering young man with a stern expression stood in front of them.

It was Uozumi Jun, in a typical white and blue sushi-chef's robe, and a towel draping across his massive neck.

"Sendoh! What are you doing here? No practice today?" the tone was rather interrogating.

"Arh…." Sendoh scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly, "I…. we caught a fish, a big one." As he lifted the bucket with the fish in it to his senior's disapproving glare, "I thought…. Maybe you will cook it for us?"

"Us? Who is us?"

"I am us!" chirped in Merilyn. She stepped out beaming from behind the tall lad.

Uozumi eyed Sendoh suspiciously, almost squinting, giving him another scornful stare. The latter continued his sheepish grin.

"Hi," she stuck out her hand as usual, "I am Akira's cousin, Merilyn Sendoh. I am in Japan for a few days visiting relatives, and Akira took me fishing this morning."

Realizing his imprudence to his former teammate's family, a smile broke through Uozumi's stern face, "Ah, my apology." As a traditional, formal Japanese young man, he did not take the out-stretched hand, but bowed slightly, "Hajime-mashite!"

Merilyn bowed slightly too, "Nice meeting you too! You are really very tall!"

After some pleasantries and some catch-ups about the basketball club, Uozumi examined the fish in the bucket. "That is a big fish alright; I can ask my dad what we can make of it."

"That would be great!" beamed the new captain in a manner a little childish.

"But," Uozumi eyed Sendoh again, "The restaurant isn't open until 5 O'clock today. You will have to come back this evening."

Before Sendoh could answer, he heard Merilyn nodding happily while saying "Sure."

"Well, I heard there is a summer festival in town, why not you guys go check that out? I am sure it would be interesting for your cousin to see a Japanese festival. And I see you both back here at 5 here tonight?" with bucket now in his hand, Uozumi said to his teammates, avoiding eye contact with the pretty stranger.

"Summer festival? Sounds exciting!" Merilyn was jumping now, she grabbed onto Sendoh's arm, "could we go? I would love to go!"

"Yes," replied Uozumi pleasantly for his teammate, "Summer festivals are highlights of Japan, as a visitor I am sure you wouldn't want to miss it!"

Sendoh sighed in resignation; he did not have a choice but to say yes once again. After all, the order came now from him former captain, no less.


	5. Festival and Kainandai

**1:34 p.m., Sunday, Kamakura City**

After leaving both the bucket and the fishing rod with the former captain (none of them want to carry a fishing rod to the festival), they bid their farewell to Uozumi for now and headed to the town of Kamakura, an old town a few station away from Ryonan Kokomae station on the Enoden Line.

When they arrived, the streets were already packed with stalls selling snacks and trinkets, teenagers in hoards giggling and chatting, some in traditional Japanese summer dress, the yukata; or in one of those Lolita attires. Older ladies with umbrellas to shield their faces from the scorching sun strolled through the streets. Gallants with dangling lanterns stretched across the top of the buildings from side to side. As they maneuvered through the stalled-lined lanes, a number of girls looked up to Sendoh admiringly. It was not only unusual for a Japanese teenager to be that tall; his masculine jawline, straight nose, long brows and elongated, beautiful eyes mean he was a very good looking young man to begin with.

Then they both felt their tummy rumbled.

Realizing that neither of them had had any breakfast, other than an iced coffee and a Pocari with lemon slices (that was Sendoh's drink, of course).

"Let's look for something to eat." Said Sendoh when he noticed a Takoyaki stand, "There, have you tried Takoyaki yet?"

Before Merilyn could answer, he was already leading the way and maneuvered her through the crowd to the said stall. Merilyn was of average height, for Japanese's standard. It would be all too easy to miss her in the busy crowd. After all, from Sendoh's positon all he would see was a sea of black and brown heads.

As the queue was long, Sendoh pointed to a corner of the street, "There, just wait there, I will be back."

Merilyn smiled as she nodded, she thought the Ryonan Ace was starting to act a little protective, was it because of what she said the night before?

 _This world seems real and liveable somehow because of you?_

So she stood here, waiting, watching the young man queuing patiently for the popular Takoyaki. When he realized that Merilyn was watching him, Sendoh gave her a re-assuring nod, which she nodded back, a genuine smile on her face, something that masked the sadness that was slowly transcending her.

However, soon enough, something in the corner caught her eyes, and Merilyn's face lit up. She stole a glance on her tall new friend, seeing that Sendoh was still standing there waiting patiently, so she decided that it was no harm to wander off in the time she was waiting.

It took about 25 minutes before it was his turn. Sendoh, with what remaining pocket money he had, he could afford 5 boxes of Takoyaki, so he bought all 5. Satisfied, he returned to the corner where he had left his companion about half an hour earlier, pushing through the growing crowds. As he arrived at the exact same spot, it was to his mortification that he realized the spot was empty, there was no trace of her.

The feeling of horror descended him, she was no longer there, where he had asked her to wait.

 _'My God, where is she?_ ' with a slight sense of panic, he looked around, there were a lot of faces surrounding him. Men, women, boys, and girls, but none of them had the unique cat eyes and red lips that he had gotten used to associating her with.

"Meri-rin?" he called, "Meri-rin!" a little louder.

With his height advantage, Sendoh scanned the crowds, brown head, brown head with hat, black head, black head with long hair… brown head with pony tail… black head with pig tail… black head with long sweeping hair… brown heads, but still no sign of the person he was looking for, a person whom he had gotten so used to spend time with for the last one and a half day.

"Meri-rin!" he called out again, this time even louder.

Some people from the crowd started to look at him with distaste, thinking that he was acting rudely, shouting so loud.

Gone, she was gone.

A sense of panic washed over him. No, no… he wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. He knew that soon, there would come a day that she would return to the real world, that he would never see her ever again, but that time wasn't now, no, not yet.

He wasn't ready for this yet.

"Meri-rin!" Sendoh walked a few meters into the adjacent street, pushing through the crowds of festival goers. Maybe it was because of the heat, maybe it was the fear that was brooding inside him, the fear of losing a person, a friend; pearls of sweat was starting to form on his forehead, "Meri-rin, where are you?" he was shouting now, which earned him more disapproving stares from the crowd.

' _No, please, no…_ ' he thought desperately, ' _Please, not now… not yet…_ '

Then a thought dawned on him…

' _Could it be… could it be… that the corner he had asked her to stand and wait; was in fact a portal back to the real world?_ '

' _Like, some sort of dimensional transition door….?_ '

If Sendoh wasn't in such a panic mode and would hear his own thought now, he would think he had gone crazy, lost his mind.

 _'Man, why didn't I ask her to stand in the opposite corner, why this...?_ ' without knowing, he was starting to blame himself, 'If _I only knew..._ '

"Please… don't go just yet… oh please, I'm supposed to have one more day….." without realizing, sweat had soaked through the back of his polo shirt, he was mumbling now. He paced around frantically in circles near the spot he had left her not long before, "There is still so much I want to ask you… please…. Come back… please!"

His voice was slowly breaking into a hoarse cry. Tears were about to form in his eyes when he heard a voice behind him.

"Ask me what?"

Sendoh spun around as quickly as a manga character possibly could.

And there she was, all dressed up in a cream white yukata with large pink sakuras and light golden butterflies, matched with a contrasting royal purple obi tied into a giant bow at the back. One side of her curls was pinned up loosely behind her ear with a dangling flower clip. Though she was a little stunned by the sight of the distraught young man in front of her, "You alright?" she asked, a little bemused.

Sendoh could hardly believe his eyes. He stared at her for a few seconds, almost speechless.

Merilyn seemed to notice his astonishment, "I always wanted a yukata you know?" she said sheepishly with a grin, feeling the need to justify her sudden disappearance and re-appearance, "and since I thought it would take you a while to get the Takoyaki, I thought I might as well buy one when there is still this automatic translation going on… And… and the lady inside was nice enough to help me put it on…"

Sendoh led out a huge sigh with a heave of his broad shoulders, "It… it suits you…" he spluttered… a little less coolly than he had intended.

"You think so? Thanks!" she beamed.

"But next time, don't disappear like that, OK?"

"OK, I am sorry."

"I thought I lost you." The expression on Sendoh's face was stern and serious; he wasn't looking at her as he said this, "I was worried sick you know?"

"I am sorry, I thought I will be back before you were done. I should have told you." She bit her lips, a little guilty. Deep down inside, Merilyn was aware that soon, very soon, they would lose each other forever. The thought caused a sharp twang deep in her heart.

"I'm sorry…" she repeated, touching his elbow slightly to indicate her sincerity.

"Anyway, let's eat." Sendoh said flatly, walking off to look for a bench for them to sit down for their lunch, leaving Merilyn to catch up with his large strides. He didn't know why, but he was angry, almost furious. As a carefree person, anger was an emotion he was unfamiliar with. He couldn't figure out why he felt that way, but he also knew that he was now relieved that he found her again.

Before long, they found an empty bench where they could sit down. So they seated apart from each other, with the 5 boxes of Takoyaki between them.

Due to the commotion just now, the Takoyaki balls were no longer smoking hot. The Bonito flakes danced limply in what remaining heat there was, as if they had lives of their own that was slowly dwindling away.

"It's not hot anymore… sorry…" said Sendoh regretfully, trying to diffuse the awkwardness between them; though Merilyn could sense that he was still brooding a little.

"Don't you have practice today?" she asked as casually as she could pull off, while popping an octopus-filled ball into her mouth. She felt guilty somehow of her carelessness, and she definitely did not want to ruin their last day together.

"No." the young man shook his head, pricking his ball-shaped lunch with a plastic fork, "I gave the team a break today. They need it." In fact, the reason he cancelled the practice was to spend time with his new friend. One that he was not sure will still be around tomorrow evening.

"Ah." She said while blowing hot air from her mouth to cool down the snack, and wasn't able to speak for a while.

"I heard there is fire-work tonight." Sendoh said as matter-of-factly as possible, avoiding her eyes, "They do it every summer, and I heard it is pretty amazing. Maybe we should check it out."

"Sure!" was the answer, "but before that, there are something I would like to do."

"And what's that?"

"I would like to take a picture with you and make it into a keyring." Merilyn said without batting an eye-lid.

Sendoh raised an eyebrow "A key ring with my picture in it?" If he would be honest with himself, he wasn't angry anymore. This new 'friend' or, as she said, 'cousin' of his had a way to surprise him in the most innocent way. His face eased into a soft smile.

"Yes," she popped another ball into her mouth, "Isn't there something like that? One of those Photo booth things that you can take picture and make them into souvenirs?"

"Sure, it is called Purikura."

"Right, then let's go find a Purikura then." Noticing that he was now smiling, she grinned happily at him, "You were my first crush, so I couldn't just let you go without having at least some pictures taken as a souvenir!" then she mused to herself, "No more staring at your pictures and planting kisses in the story book anymore… not that I do that now anyway!"

Sendoh would hate to admit it, but he knew his face was going red. He was glad that his new friend was seemingly oblivious to his blushing.

They finished up their Takoyaki, and with Sendoh's superb shooting skills, he shot the crushed up straw-made containers into a nearby garbage bin from a distance of 2 meter, earning him some claps from the crowd. Then they started their next mission – the Purikura booth.

It was during their search mission that Sendoh noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd.

It was none other than Maki Shinichi, and Kiyota Nobunaga from Kainandai High School.

"Hey," he called out as he waved, "Maki-sempai, Nobunaga-kun."

The two Kainandai players noticed him too.

Then the four came to form a circle.

Maki was wearing a dark T-shirt, beige pants and a lace up boots. Kiyota had a Kainan's Cap on, T-shirt with a green vest, and denim shorts. He was also wearing a golden necklace with his name engraved on it.

Their dressing style was so decisively 90's that it made Merilyn winced, albeit only inwardly.

"What brought you guys here?" Sendoh asked, with an easy smile plastered on his face.

"We just went to Nagoya to check out our potential opponents for the National." Maki said, with a smirk on his brown face. The sun was now shining down from the middle of the sky, it almost looked like his tanned skin simmered in the ray.

"Yeah, checking out opponents." Kiyota butted in, "Something that winning team Kainandai has to do, unlike…." Before he could blurt out the word 'Ryonan', he received promptly a knock on his head.

"Sorry Captain!"

Sendoh laughed lightly at the commotion.

Merilyn observed the goings quietly. She noticed how much Kiyota feared his captain, to a point close to worship. If Hikoichi's idol was Sendoh, then Kiyota's was no doubt Maki.

"And you guys?" Maki was now inspecting the person unfamiliar to him, the large eyes and the red lips and the yukata, but he made sure to focus his question on the Ryonan player, "No practice today?"

"Ah, we are just checking out the summer festival." Sendoh said nonchalantly, "I am giving the team a break today."

"I heard Uozumi had retired as Captain." Maki said while putting one hand into his pants' pocket. A number of young girls threw admiring stares at his direction; Maki Shinichi was definitely a gorgeous-looking man.

"Yes, he is becoming a chef." grinned Sendoh, "Can you imagine? Uozumi-Sempai as a chef ?" He chuckled slightly, did not care to mention that he was now the captain. Despite being called a genius and the Ace of Ryonan, he was a person that did not care or chase after respect or reputation, "I imagine he would scare customers more."

Maki did not smile at his joke, "It is really a shame you know," he eyed the taller young man intently, "With your skills and ability; you definitely belong to the Inter-High."

"Well," Sendoh shrugged, "Basketball is a team sport. It is not something that an individual can win by him or herself." He wanted to point out that it was Maki who gave the instruction to force Uozumi off the court in the first place, but thought better of it.

Kiyota wanted to say something, but a stern glare from Maki silenced him.

A smile appeared again on the new captain's face, "and there is always next year!"

Kiyota looked pretty annoyed at the suggestion. Sure, next year Maki would have gone to University, and there will be an opponent lead by the damn so-called genius Sendoh.

"OK, we are going to look for a Purikura booth now," Sendoh waved his hand at the two young men as a bid of goodbye, "care to join us?"

Maki smiled softly, "No… we got to get going. We still have to practice today."

"Alright then, see you guys!" said Sendoh as he started to walk away when he felt a small nudge on his back.

It was Maki.

"Not bad," Maki said in a whisper, "a very pretty date you have." He winked at him cheekily.

Sendoh could see the sneer in his eyes. He wanted to say the cousin thing, but could not be bothered. So he smiled and shrugged as a way of response.

Then they parted ways, Maki and Kiyota on their way to Kainandai's basketball gym, Sendoh and Merilyn continued their search for a Purikura.

"Don't you want their pictures?" Sendoh asked, looking down at Merilyn who was more than a head shorter than he was, "They are the number one team in Kanagawa you know?"

"I know." Replied Merilyn flatly, "but I don't want their pictures."

Sendoh decided not to ask further.

Even if it was a story world, they were still in Japan after all, and the next Purikura booth was less than a 10 minutes' walk from where they stood before.

After Merilyn confirmed that she had enough coins, they went inside. As the instructions were entirely in Japanese, Sendoh had to do all the tuning and adjustments. Being a dude, he was not keen on any of those girlie frame or frilly add-ons. They settled on a simple mode, and without much posing (that would be too awkward), they had a number of photos taken.

When the selections were done, they left the photo booth with the instant stickers in hand.

Merilyn was studying the printed stickers intently, before she raised her head to look up at the tall guy next to her.

"What? Something wrong?" asked Sendoh.

"How do you do your hair?" wondering eyes now darting above his forehead.

Sendoh wasn't expecting such a question. He just starred back with his mouth slacked at the person who threw him the strangest question.

"I have seen a lot of matches in Slam Dunk." She continued while still eyeing those Purikura's pictures, "after a game, usually people's hair starting going limp, Sakuragi's, Miyagi's, even Maki's because of the sweat. But yours, yours is always in its perfect, up-right form. Not even a strand of hair will faze."

Sendoh thought she had a point.

"How do you do it?"

"Ah…. I," Sendoh thought about it for a bit, and found himself a little surprised. If he would be quite honest, he didn't know the answer either. His hair had always looked like that, from the morning he got up.

"I guess it's genetic?"

It was true, it was also never explicitly explained why Sendoh's hair was always upright, no matter what he did (arrived late for the practice match, when he was sweating it out on court against Kainandai and Shohoku). Too bad Mr. Takehiko Inoue never had him in the shower during the series… and he sure did not look like a guy who would spend hours in front on the mirror every morning.

She put the pictures into her wallet.

It was then a stream of rhythmic drumming suddenly started.

It was the festival possession. A group of dancers in traditional Japanese Yukata was approaching now from the center of the street. They danced in perfect unison, with little drum on their left hand that they beat with a stick on the right. As they swayed to the rhythm they beat the drum synchronically, resulting in some up-beat music that made one's feet itching to move.

Soon, the head of the dance group started pulling the audiences to join the possession. He immediately noticed Merilyn in the crowd. Yes, she was hard to miss, as she was not the least bit like a wall flower. Her large cat eyes and red full lips, coupled with that brown wavy hair and the stunning yukata, certainly attracted attention. She was soon dragged into the group of dancing and singing, Yukata-clad figures.

This was the first time since they met that Sendoh saw her giggling. She was now dancing along, though her foot steps were definitely chaotic, she was having fun following instruction that she happened not to understand.

Sendoh did not know it then, but a warm feeling crept up on him and the corner of his lips turned upwards to form a smile, as he watched his new acquaintance being silly and laughing easily. It was a warm, genuine smile.

He could just about dismiss the whole real world and story world thing.

As he was losing himself in his thoughts, he felt someone pulling his arms, causing him to stumble forward. It was Merilyn, dragging him into the dance. From left and right all the dancers with the drum started surrounding them, blocking off his escape route. At the end, he did not have much other choice than to play along. There were a number of people there now, both dancers and dance-spectators; and they all held hands forming a large circle, kicking their feet, raising their arms, and going around in circle.

After a few songs the music stopped, everyone was panting slightly and clapped in delight.

"That was fun!" Merilyn gasped in a light pant, "I didn't understand anything though."

It became apparent to her that other than direct conversation, the normal hustle and bustle on the streets or background was not usually translated in the story, so she did not understand anything. She decided to conceal this fact from her new friend.

When she thought of herself having to leave Kanagawa tomorrow, her heart sank a little and dark clouds appeared in her mind.

"Ah!" Sendoh said while looking at his wristwatch, breaking her out of her reverie, "It is 4:30 now. We better get going before we are late!"

Yes, they still had a fish in Uozumi's restaurant that was presumably dead by now and was transforming itself into their delicious dinner.


	6. Dinner and the Aida's

**5:24 p.m., Sunday, somewhere near the seaside in Kanagawa District**

When they arrived at Uozumi's restaurant, a loud "Irashaimase!" greeted them as they entered through the sliding door.

Sendoh waved at his former captain, Uozumi Jr., who was now behind the sushi counter setting things up.

"Ah, Sendoh!" said the 2 meter-tall teenager, "Trust you to be on time!"

A middle-aged lady, presumably Mrs. Uozumi, led them to a table in a corner of the restaurant as she chanted an enthusiastic, "Dozo!"

They bowed slightly to show appreciation of the hospitality, and sat down opposite each other.

Uozumi walked up to their table, "Same old Sendoh, always late!" he lamented his successor with a sarcastic tone in his deep voice.

Sendoh just grinned back at his senior; something he was used to doing whenever he received complaints about his tardiness.

"So, Sendoh-san," Uozumi Jr. turned to address Merilyn in the most formal way, "Ah, you bought a yukata, very nice. So I trust that you enjoy the festival?"

Receiving compliments on her fashion choice, Merilyn beamed, "Yes it was a good idea of yours, Uozumi-kun." she replied politely, making sure not to mention the incidence where Sendoh got so mad at her, as well as their meeting with Maki and Kiyota.

"So," continued Uozumi, "My dad looked at the fish, and we have some suggestions."

Both diners waited in anticipation.

"Since the fish was very fresh, we will prepare some _sashimi_ as starters. The body will be made into a _Nabe_ and we will grill the head."

"Sounds like a feast." nodded both of them.

"Hey," Merilyn proposed to the Ryonan's former captian, "since there is so much food, why don't you join us for dinner?"

Uozumi Jr. shook his head, "Nah, I still have to work." He peered back at the middle-age Uozumi senior who was eyeing them suspiciously, before taking his leave and walked into the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.

Sendoh watched the retreating back of his former caption, he felt that Uozumi was different now. No longer the aggressive, proud – bordering on arrogance sometimes – captain he used to know. His thoughts wandered back to Ryonan's gym, where Uozumi would try to block his lay-ups under the basket during their practice match, but Sendoh could always pull off a double-clutch or led the center to foul, all the while smiling benevolently. Deep down inside, he knew that Uozumi respected his skills a lot, though the former captain would rather die than admit it. In return, he would try to boss Sendoh around, making him run laps whenever the latter showed up late. The Uozumi tonight, however, was very different. He seemed quieter, calmer and more serious. Like an adult. Maybe that was how a real job changed a person. When you needed to work hard to earn some cold cash, the responsibility was definitely different than passing exams and trying to win a ball game.

Though he had always respected Uozumi, he felt his respect for his senior grew even more.

Merilyn, who was seated opposite him, sipped her sake quietly, examining him; seemingly seeing through to his thoughts but chose not to say anything.

In no time at all their sashimi arrived. The fish was so fresh that once sliced, its flesh appeared almost translucent. The slices were organized in a fan-like formation, beside it a heap of thinly cut Daikon strips and a dollop of wasabi.

They ate, praising the skills of the chef and fishing skill of Sendoh least one forget.

It was at this time that another group of patrons entered the restaurant. "Irashaimase!" called out Uozumi Jr., only to realize that he recognized those faces.

"Hikoichi! What are you doing here?"

Indeed, the trio who entered was no other than Aida Hikoichi, their noisy and hyperactive freshman slash manager, together with his reporter sister Aida Yayoi and her colleague Nakamura-san.

"Uozumi-Sempai!" waved the younger Aida enthusiastically.

Hearing the familiar voice, Sendoh turned his head, and immediately wished he would be invisible sometimes.

"What brought you guys here?" Deep down inside, Uozumi was suspecting that Hikoichi was coming here to do research for whatever his curiosity fancied. Then an idea appeared in his mind…

' _Could it be… could it be that both Aida and Nakamura also double as restaurant critics?_ '

His face paled a little as the thought dawned on him.

The cheerfulness of Hikoichi did nothing to ease the former captain's nervousness, "Sempai, I told my aneki that you had become a chef, and she said she wanted to try it out! So I brought her here…"

"Oh…" _definitely a restaurant critic_ , Uozumi stumbled a little, "please… please sit down then."

When Hikoichi's eyes followed Uozumi's gesture to one of the tables, his jaws dropped as he saw one person he least expected to see.

"SENDOH-SAN!" cried Aida Hikoichi.

"SENDOH-KUN -!" cried Aida Yayoi.

A hapless Nakamura sighed.

The easy smile on Sendoh's face became a little strained as he saw his junior, "Ah… Hikoichi… what... a coincident…"

Aida Yayoi thought it must be one of the luckiest days of her life, meeting her crush in a restaurant like that. However, as her tunnel vision on the tall boy subsided to include his surrounding; did she then realize that the man of her dream wasn't alone after all. There was in fact another person sharing a table with him.

A woman.

The smile of Yayoi's face froze a little, ' _A woman?_ ' before completely faded away, ' _A very attractive one indeed..._ '

Merilyn was staring at them incuriously with widened eyes and a small upward twirl of her lips, more stunned than smiling.

"Hey, can we sit with you Sendoh-san?" asked Hikoichi excitedly, not waiting for an answer, he was already dragging another table to join with Sendoh's. Never in this world would he expect to bump into his idol on a Sunday night.

Following her brother, Yayoi walked a little stiffly over to the table that Sendoh and Merilyn was sharing, all the while keeping her eyes on the stranger that she had never seen before, and studying her.

And Merilyn seems to notice it, too. Her face broke into a smile, her cat-eyes into two inverted crescents, "Miss Aida Yayoi, right? Please, take a seat." She gestured to the chair next to Sendoh, figuring that would be what the basketball journalist had wanted, being close to her crush; but Hikoichi beat her to it, oblivious to the beeline that his sister was making to that precious chair.

Aida Yayoi had no choice but to sit next to her brother, who was now between her and her crush.

Nakamura sat silently next to Merilyn, blushing.

"You guys came at a good time," Merilyn said after the new comers settled themselves down at the table, "we were just saying that there would be too much food, so we can now share it all with you."

"Yes, we went fishing this morning, and I caught a fish, a big one." continued Sendoh happily, "and Uozumi-Sempai agreed to cook it for us."

"This big." Merilyn gestured the size of the fish with the space between her two index fingers.

"Sorry…" Aida Yayoi couldn't help it now but asked, "And you are…?"

Before Merilyn could answer, the younger Aida responded, "Oh, didn't I tell you. This is Sendoh-san's cousin from Australia; she came and watched us practice yesterday. And her name is… Mey… Meri…."

"Merilyn," finished Merilyn for him, "Merilyn Sendoh, hajime-mashite." She followed her introduction by a slight bow.

Both Aida Yayoi and Nakamura stared at her with disbelief.

"Akira and I… we are distant cousin," feeling their eyes on her, she felt the need to explain, "I am in Japan a few days… to visit relatives," she peered at Sendoh, and saw him staring back at her blankly, "so… so Akira took me fishing this morning."

It was for a few seconds that no one said a word at the table, until the arrival of the grilled fish head with miso broke the awkward silence.

Yayoi took the chance to order more dishes. Even if the fish was big, it wasn't big enough to feed 5 people.

The dishes came one after the other, and by 7:30 p.m., after there was nothing left in the nabe pot other than a few shriveled pieces of bakucho. The sun had already set and it was now dark outside.

With their belly stuffed, everyone was either sipping their tea or picking their teeth with a toothpick.

"Hey," they heard Merilyn spoke up, asking, "Could we see the firework from here?"

"Firework?"

"Yes," Merilyn turned to look at Sendoh, "you said that there is this firework at night, could we see it from here?"

"Urgh, I guess so? Let's ask Uozumi-sempai." Sendoh waved at his former captain to get Uozumi's attention.

The answer was yes, they could see it from there.

"Then let's watch it from here." Said Merilyn, sipping her Sake, "it is less crowded here, and we still have a fishing rod to carry back."

"Fishing rod?" asked Aida Yayoi.

"Yes," answered Sendoh amicably, "Meri-rin got me a new fishing rod as a present, and we left it here this afternoon to go to the summer festival."

"Summer festival?" asked Hikoichi.

"Yes, and we bumped into Maki-sempai and Kiyota-kun."

"Maki-sempai!? The Maki-sempai from Kainandai?"

"Hikoichi, lower your voice!"

Sendoh laughed lightly.

"Why don't you guys join us?" Merilyn asked the group, including the former captain of Ryonan.

Everyone nodded mutely, each with their own motivation.

Aida Hikoichi because he wanted to spend more time with his idol.

Aida Yayoi because she wanted to spend more time with her crush.

Nakamura, Nakamura because he was the driver and couldn't leave alone without the Aida's.

Then they all turned to look at Uozumi.

"No," shook the chef-in-training his head, "I still have to work."

"Oh c'mon, Sempai," pleaded Hikoichi, "join us!"

"No I can't, really."

As he was about to turn to leave he heard Merilyn asked, suddenly, "Worry about your dad?"

"Huh?" as the giant of a teenager turned to look at her, he thought he saw a glint of mischief in those large, cat eyes.

"Let me deal with it." She said, and immediately stood up from her chair and walked over to the sushi counter, before Uozumi or Sendoh could stop her.

Under their watchful eyes, she managed to persuade a grumpy Uozumi-senior to give his son a few minutes off. The two captains watched in embarrassment as she patted Uozumi Sr. on his shoulder, something that would be a taboo in Japanese culture. Sendoh wished he could hide under the table for a moment.

"I am sorry, my cousin, she is a little… urgh… how do you say…?" Sendoh felt the need to apologize and tried to explain, but failed to find the right word.

"It's OK, I don't think she understands Japanese culture right?" Uozumi Jr. said in an understanding tone.

The Aida trios watched silently.

"Yeah…" he spluttered, though Sendoh wondered if the culture in the real world was very different after all. Perhaps, perhaps she was just not very… story-world like?

 _Oh right, she is not one of you._

 _She is real. You are not._

 _Everything you ever know, are not real._

The thought caused a jab in his heart.

"Is she really your cousin?" resting his massive hands on the back of the now-empty chair, the former captain asked suddenly, in a softer tone that he would normally speak. But his eyes were relentless.

"What do you mean?"

Sendoh turned to look at Uozumi, only to find that the latter had fixed his eyes sternly on his.

"I don't know, you guys do not seem…" choosing his words carefully, Uozumi spoke again, looking down at the empty chair, "to act like cousins…"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"In the way you guys look at each other…"

With that, Sendoh was a little taken aback. _The way they look at each other?_ Sure, he couldn't deny that she was a very attractive woman, but he never thought he would look at her differently than anyone else.

Well, not in a way that would be apparent to anyone else, anyway.

The Aida trio was now observing their exchange intently.

It was at this time that Merilyn returned from the sushi counter, "OK, sorted. Uozumi-kun, you officially have 15 minutes off, starting…" she looked at the face of Sendoh's watch, "now."

"OK, we better be hurry before the show starts." Sendoh stood up hurriedly from his seat and headed for the door, avoiding eye contacts with the rest of the group.

The two Aida's followed him swiftly, leaving Nakamura to trail behind.

Merilyn thought he acted a little strange, but paid little attention to it.

So, together with Ryonan's former captain and the Aida's, they found a spot on the beach and sat directly on the sand, watching the pyro-technique being played out expertly in the distant sky. The dark canvas was lit a thousand and one different colours. There were formations like blooming sakuras, and some like thousands of falling raindrops, and some still resembled giant, glorious palm trees. There were even Kanji formations that said "summer" being shot up into sky.

Then, like a firefly, they sparkled their splendid light, they burned, putting up a magnificent show in their entire splendor to the world, their brightest and most glorious hue; before they died, fading into oblivion in the darkness.

All six watched in silent amazement, each in their own thoughts, until everything died down and the sky returned back to its dark self, only silence remained in the group.

It was quiet now. None of them spoke. The low humming of cicada could be heart in the background.

"OK," Uozumi was the first to break the silence, "My break is now over, and you guys better get going." He looked up to the distant sound of the Enoden, "It will still be a while before you get back to where you came from."

All agreed and returned to the restaurant. Sendoh retrieved his fishing rod from the back of the kitchen and bid goodbye to the Uozumi's and the Aida's and the Nakamura; and they were on their way.

The Aida trio watched their retrieving backs, until the two turned a corner and were no longer in view; they turned and walked to the carpark. While on the way to Nakamura's car, Aida Yayoi was the first to speak.

"I don't think she is his cousin..."

"What do you mean Aneki?" retorted Hikoichi defensively, "That is what Sendoh-san said, that she is his cousin. Look, I even wrote it down here…" he instinctively retrieved his dog-eared notebook from his backpack, intending to show it to his sister.

"I know that's what he said…" replied Yayoi solemnly, not looking at her colleague or her brother, "You are too thick Hikoichi," she sighed lightly, "you are too thick…"

Nakamura remained silent as he opened the car door for Yayoi and Hikoichi to get in, before he got into the driver seat and started the engine.

Then began their silent drive home.


End file.
